Maria Pask

Project: Beautiful City

Towards the end of the 1960s, when industrial societies were prospering like they never had done before, the so called ‘68ers movement, and the hippies in particular, rebelled against established society. In search for alternative lifestyles and values, some of them turned to exotic religions and other forms of “spirituality.” Maria Pask was two years old when the musical Godspell first came to the stage with its song of a “Beautiful City” built not of stones, but spiritual visions. This summer during skulptur projekte münster 07, a similarly “beautiful city” – of tents – will arise on a meadow to the north of the Schlossgarten. The British artist living in the Netherlands has invited representatives of a wide variety of religions and persuasions to Münster; each weekend, within a white tent, a different speaker will present his or her religious or spiritual convictions to the public. As an independent theologian from Münster notes, “You don’t have to be religious just because I am;” a witch from Dortmund insists that she “doesn’t give counseling by phone;” and a Buddhist will explain why Buddhists do not “believe.” All of them will address topics that the artist has put up for discussion. An important aspect will be the question of whether and how different religious beliefs, all with their own claims to interpretative authority and truth, can be reconciled with one another. Followers, friends, and the general public are all invited to camp here during the week in the vicinity of Herman de Vries’ Sanctuarium und George Brecht’s Three VOID Stones – two works from earlier editions of Skulptur Projekte in Münster.

Biography

Maria Pask’s art takes place primarily in projects that focus on processes and include people from a wide variety of societal groups. Based on artistic strategies developed for the most part during the 1960s, the artist’s works are reminiscent of the radical nature of the alternative movement. Thus, while Pask uses new forms of theatrical production in her oeuvre, she does not hesitate to re-enact musicals or draw upon the particular aesthetics of this generation when this suits her purposes. Indeed, in her explorations of group dynamics and the position of the individual in the community, Pask employs a broad array of formats, ranging from sculpture to creative workshops and different forms of group therapy. She takes the creative and social potential of these formats and transforms them into colourful installations infiltrated with amateur art. Teamwork and exchange with different societal groups are crucial to Pask’s working methods and show the influence of the theatre on her art.

An important aspect of Pask’s artistic approach is to create situations that draw audiences into unexpected situations. The goal is less to provoke the audience than to attempt to use this kind of confrontation to overcome inhibitions, break with social conventions, and thereby create something new – all with a good dose of humour.